Do you outline? If so, what is your method?

[MrsCatInTheHat]

I tend to outline by areas of interest/need rather than order for actual writing. But this is solely for non-fiction research. I do not write fiction.

[EdelRae]

I'll write basic bullet points for the intro, climax, and ending when I first start developing my idea. I started doing this because sometimes I wouldnt thoroughly think about the climax or ending, thus I end up setting it aside to collect dust.

[MarisaRose]

I do outline a lot, many times my outlines are constantly changing. I find outlining really helps get your ideas flowing; and many times it helps me keep my plot linear. I highly recommend outlining! I think it will also help you to remember all of your ideas. Even if the outline is brief, I think it will help you stay organized and on track while writing your novel. Best of luck!

[Jasmine M Wardiya]

I make mindmaps. First one is always the title in the middle, and main plots and characters, expected length, genres etc. ... basically, what I want from it, coming out of it. Then each of those gets its own page and more explosions: world history, characters, setting etc. And then a page for random thoughts that don't fit anywhere at the moment. I've only gotten that far for one fic at the moment, but it's working well so far. If it's a more straightforward plot, I'll just use dotpoints.

Remember, you don't need to write your novel in order either, so there's no need for the outline to be in order while your work's in progress. In any case, you may make changes along the way. I guess flexibility is an important part of an outline - but it still needs to be a solid skeleton (of course that slipped in... Sorry!)

[Netgirl]

It depends on what I'm writing if I'm completing an outline or not. I've done a few game reviews in the past and my formula is to take notes while playing the game. Once I'm done, I'll use the notes as a reference guide to construct an outline of how I want the article to look. Once I have the outline written out I usually set it aside for the morning so I can write up the game review or I go forward with writing the article. From there it's just a matter of sitting down, typing it out, and then coming back to it later to do some editing.

[Starlight]

I fomerly wrote without outlines, just letting the ideas flow, but then i wrote my last book with well defined plots for each chapter. In the course of making this outlines, ideas and twists to the plot kept coming in. Then I saw the end and there was a chance to iron out every angle that would make the end ridiculous. I agree its much better to form outlines

[Lesa]

No, I'm not much of an outliner. I tend to fly by the seat of my pants and see where the story takes me, my imagination leading the way. It's much more fun that way, and unlike a lot of writer's who have to 'kill their darlings' by scraping so much extra, I tend to write stark, and usually have to go back in and add detail like scenery and setting, but most of it is there. It can be tricky with series, but I can always go back in and add foreshadowing.

Sometimes I try to do a very loose outline once I hit book two, but usually things don't work out the way I think until I get there.

[Ripley3131]

For a while I would write outlines for all of my books and short stories. I think primarily I did this because so many people say to do that. I do think it was initially helpful, but in the long run I found that it stifled my creativity and disrupted the flow of the story.
I still use an outline if I'm struggling with a particular plot line and trying to decide if it's worth pursuing, but the work that I've been most happy with has not been done via an outline.
Now I use visualization and stream of consciousness to write, and then I run through afterwards and clean it up, because stream of consciousness writing is not necessarily very tidy.
Personally, I believe that there are no universal templates. Each writer needs to decide what works for them, and this takes time and experimentation.

[Ashton]

I have always failed when it comes to outlines. I have had great debates over them, but I think at the end of the day, they are only useful if it helps.

For my own process I normally focus on characters and then I start writing. This is really rough and in itself could be called and outline of sorts. I tell what I want to happen in my story. Then I "edit" and go back and show what happens.

That has worked well for me.

[Srosemautner]

I am currently finishing the outline for my first novel. I think outlining is very valuable for first time authors if not everyone! Take your time with your outline, if your anything like me, you just want to dive in and get with the writing but in this past year I have found that putting the time in to craft your story and know your characters first will ultimately give you the best story and minimize re-writes.

[Chris Manning]

I'm in the middle of a short story, which seems to be turning into a novella (possibly even a novel). I have to admit, it's running away from me. In an attempt to rein it all in, I've decided to create an outline. Going forward, before I begin any story, I'll definitely create an outline first. KS Crooks' method seems to be the best. Thank you!

[Lucie Adler]

There is no one right way to write a novel. It mostly depends on if you’re the kind of person who needs to know the story he/she is telling from the very beginning or if you do better making it up as you go along. There’s also no law of nature saying that you have to choose one writing strategy and stick with it over the course of writing an entire book.

Personally, I really need an outline before I write anything of significant length. It helps me organize my thoughts, and forces me to really think through the problematic aspects of a plot or character before I do too much actual writing. I like to develop an outline for the overall plot first, and then outline the individual chapters. This might be too structured for some people, but I find it really helps me figure out my story structure, and helps make the process of writing a novel less daunting. It’s much easier to treat each chapter like a short story that fits into a larger framework than to think about the whole all at once. I’ve also found that by figuring out the story mechanics in an outline format first, I can focus more on my writing style and character development when I sit down to actually tell the story. So far, I have a complete rough draft of one novel and I’ve started a second one. I’ve used this outline method for both, and it’s working out pretty well.

The only downfall with outlining is that it’s easy to get very attached to your outline. It’s important to remember that writing is a creative process as well as a technical one, and that when people write fiction, they’re also often trying to work through their own ideas, beliefs, conflicts, etc. in story form. Your ideas will change as you go, and you need to give yourself the freedom to deviate from your outline – even if that means you have to come up with a new outline after writing something because it’s completely altered the direction of your story.

[whomeqqqq]

first i organise
gather all available input. if its fiction then invent your characters and environment.
group items to categories or other relationship

find out what is missing and fill in holes.
for large piles repeat with subcategories
if its fiction create the story and idea for the plot

i find it easiest to do this with paper on top of a large table
if its NF the paper may be in many forms
if you are writing fiction and inventing your input then 3x5 cards work best
for NF you may want to create a 3x5 card for each pile then sort those cards first
instead of moving massive piles of notes around

since you have to write the book word by word linearly
you will have to sequence the input that your sorted into groups/topics/relationships
that linear sequence is the outline/TOC

it is far easier to build the house after it is framed
than to try to add on rooms one at a time

I've always wanted to start writing a novel. After doing some research on how, I still have yet to figure out something. Should I outline? Some people do and some people don't. But, how do I find out if outlining is right for me? Sometimes I find myself too eagered to write the story to outline. Then, when I don't outline, I never finish what I started writing.
So: do you outline? If so why & how?

[Randomgold]

I'm currently trying to write my first novel, and I'm not outlining anything. I'm just kind of writing what makes sense for the story. I have an idea for what should happen next and I just write it. That won't work for everyone, but it's what I do. Whether or not it's a good idea remains to be seen.

[constantine265]

I use the snowflake method, I found on internet (I'm sorry I can't remember the name of the creator, but I think it's easy to find by simple search.) Only I have slightly modified it to better suit my needs.